In the past, canvas stretching frames have had the problem of having the underlying surface of the frame member disposed either adjacent to or very close to the overlying layer of canvas being supported thereon. This produces the problem of having an outer peripheral edge of the canvas which has underlying backing support from the underlying surface of the frame members, so that when the artist is brushing across the transitional line between the supported area to the unsupported area, a line of demarcation will be produced by the brush strokes extending across this transition line. This difference in backing support has been a troublesome problem for artists for many years.
The present invention provides a stretcher frame which tilts the inner edges of each frame member rearwardly away from the canvas during the stretching operation. This rearward spacing is a sufficient distance so that brush strokes extending across the inner frame edge will not actually displace the canvas rearwardly into contact with the underlying front surface of the frame since there will, in effect, be no underlying frame surface engaged with the marginal edge of the canvas, as best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.